POA10 – Know your Armor – The Virtues” – Put On The Armor – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare w/Dr. Paul Thigpen Ph.D. – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

Episode 9 – Know Your Weapons pt. 4 – A Manual for Spiritual Warfare with Dr. Paul Thigpen, Ph.D In this episode of Put on the Armor: A Manual for Spiritual Warfare , Kris McGregor and Dr. Paul Thigpen turn to the virtues as the Christian’s interior armor. Dr. Thigpen begins by distinguishing virtue from vice: virtue is a habit of doing good, while vice is a habit of wrongdoing. Using the image of ruts worn into a road, he explains how repeated choices gradually shape the soul, making it easier either to choose what is good or to fall repeatedly into the same weakness. The armor St. Paul describes, then, isn’t simply something placed around us from the outside. Through grace and faithful practice, faith, hope, love, truth, and the other virtues become part of who we are, strengthening the mind, heart, and will against temptation. The conversation looks closely at faith as both believing what God has revealed and entrusting ourselves to Him, hope as the helmet that protects the mind from discouragement and despair, and love as the breastplate protecting the heart and our ability to choose what is good. Truth guards us against the father of lies, while readiness to share the Gospel gives Christians firm footing as they move through the world. Dr. Thigpen concludes with humility, the soil in which the other virtues grow and one of the strongest protections against spiritual pride. Rather than trying to fight alone, Christians are called to recognize their weakness, depend upon God, receive the graces of the sacraments, and allow trusted people to speak truth into their lives. A SPECIAL NOTE: We mourn the death of Dr. Paul Thigpen on February 24, 2026. He was a good friend, supporter, and contributor to Discerning Hearts. We will miss him deeply and will continue to share his ministry with gratitude and prayer. Dr. Thigpen offers insights on the Manual for Spiritual Warfare Chapter 5: Prayer and fasting, worship and adoration, Scripture and sacraments and sacramentals all provide the weapons of our spiritual warfare. With them we go on the offensive against the Evil One. But the virtues provide our defensive armor. As Blessed Pope Paul VI once observed, St. Paul “used the armor of a soldier as a symbol for the virtues that can make a Christian invulnerable.” They are our best defense against his attack